Dist logs 1,509 fresh cases; four deaths take toll to 733

Coimbatore: The district, which is reeling under severe drug shortage, recorded 1,509 fresh cases of Covid-19 on Tuesday, when the tally jumped to 84,206 from 82,689 on Monday. With this, the number of active cases has touched a new high of 8,596.
With 1,105 patients getting discharged from various treatment centres, the number of recovered patients has increased to 74,877 on the day. Presently, the recovery rate stands at 88.9%.
The Covid-19 toll, meanwhile, rose by four to 733. This is the highest number of deaths to be reported in a single day in the second wave. Three of the victims - a 47-year-old man, a 55-year-old woman and a 62-year-old man – died of bilateral bronchopneumonia in the Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital in three subsequent days starting Thursday last week. They didn’t have any comorbidities. The fourth victim was a 79-year-old hypertensive, diabetic woman who died on Thursday. Her sample tested positive for the virus only on Sunday.
Presently, there are only 527 beds vacant in government hospitals and another 962 in the private sector. While 239 beds with oxygen facilities and 16 with ventilators are available in the government sector, 437 oxygen beds and 55 ventilator beds are available in the private sector.
The drug shortage has, meanwhile, hit many people in the district. A youngster, Vendhan, had appealed on social media for a link to procure two doses of Tocilizumab shots for his 62-year-old father, who was on high flow oxygen support. KG Hospital, where he is admitted, is also trying for the drug.
Tocilizumab, the immunosuppressive drug that could prevent a severely sick Covid-19 patient from going into ventilator, has been unavailable for more than a month, doctors said.
Dr Varun Sundaramoorthy, infectious diseases specialist, Kovai Medical Centre and Hospital, said, “Tocilizumab suppresses the immune system, preventing lungs from inflaming further. We give it to patients when steroids fail to yield any results.” He said six out the seven patients, on whom he administered the drug so far, have recovered.
Dr A Murali, Covid-19 nodal officer at PSG Hospitals, said Itolizumab injections, a replacement for Tocilizumab, was also in short supply. “We have been managing by giving patients a higher dose of steroids.”
Shortage of antiviral drug Remdesivir also continues to haunt both the hospitals and patients. While the Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation has provided a special counter and helpline to procure the medicine, the shortage is stark. “Remdesivir supply meets hardly 20% of our requirements, forcing us to prioritize and give it to younger patients in the early stages of infection,” Dr Murali said.
KMCH, however, said it has adequate doses of Remdesivir. The hospital administers it only on patients who have severe infection or whose condition could get serious.
Doctors said they didn’t have data on how the drug shortage was affecting the death rate. A doctor with the CMCH said, “Death rate has not increased compared to earlier months. We are yet to analyse how the absence of drugs is affecting the morbidity and duration of hospital stay.”